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I've tried a lot of methods for cooking hard boiled eggs over the years, but my favorite method doesn't actually involve boiling the eggs at all... I bake my "hard boiled" eggs in the oven! I know it sounds a little strange, but bear with me for a moment. You see, we eat a LOT […]

If you've been reading Unsophisticook for any length of time, you probably know that I'm typically not big on semi-homemade recipes or store bought baked goods. Oh, you'll find a few in the recipe index, but given a choice and the free time, I prefer to cook from scratch whenever possible. The holidays are hectic […]

Making homemade butter used to be a necessary and lengthy process. Today we have the luxury of picking up our butter at the supermarket, but every once in awhile I decide to whip up a fresh batch at home. It literally takes less than 10 minutes to make when you use a stand mixer and […]

It's no secret that the so-called "secret ingredient" in many of my favorite recipes is toasted nuts. While my preferred method of toasting them is via the oven, there are times when I just need a small handful, say for a tasty salad at lunch -- like this Wendy's knock-off apple pecan chicken salad. When […]

Sure it's easy enough to pop popcorn on the stove, but my favorite part of this homemade microwave popcorn "recipe" is that it's so easy even my five-year-old can do it (with a little supervision)! Let's face it, as tasty as microwave popcorn can be, it's downright expensive and laden with sodium. That fragrant steam […]

I kind of cringe when I think about how many tubs of store bought "whipped cream" I ate growing up... Sure it tastes relatively good -- but have you ever looked at the ingredients in it? Not much going on in the way of good stuff. In fact, light cream checks in at number six […]

Once you try this Bisquick substitute, you won't want to go back to the store bought version. I sure don't at least... and I'm guessing you won't either after you get a taste. I've always enjoyed cooking from scratch, so I can't believe it never occurred to me just how simple it would be to […]